Remembering What I Used To Be
by theshadowcollector
Summary: Amriel and Aurora, an archangel and a witch, both cannot remember who or what they were and find themselves caught up in a world of angels and demons, they slowly uncover their past when they hunt alongside the Winchester boys.
1. A Witch-hunt

The witch sprinted through the dense forestry, her dress snagging on every leaf and branch around her; the hunters had cast a ritual impeding her powers, but she could see every one of them through the eyes and ears of the inhabitants of the wood.  
"_Singer, flank left,"_ she saw his face as he called out, ginger hair and that five o'clock shadow that all of the hunters seemed to wear at one point or another. _Daniel Elkins, _his name whispered through her mind like a shrill breeze, Elkins hefted a shotgun and seemed to be directing the others, "_Winchester, to the right, we'll get this bitch."_ She could hear them growing closer and closer, she wouldn't be able to outrun them forever. The next man appeared in her line of sight one with dark reddish brown hair and a more pronounced beared and a truckers cap. _Robert Singer, _a sudden burst of anger overcame her and one of the roots raised of its own accord and the hunter caught his foot on it and tripped, accompanied by a loud cry of '_Balls'_.  
"_You alright, Bobby?"___yet another man appeared at the fallen hunter's side, dark skinned with a pronounced goatee, _Rufus Turner,_ he helped his fallen comrade to his feet and the two resumed the witch hunt,  
"_Yeah, let's just kill the witch and be done with it,"_ Bobby replied and the witch in question kept running, "_You go ahead Rufus, I'll cover you," _another man, this one wearing all black, a priest or rather a pastor, as evident by white in his collar, _James Murphy. _One more, the last appeared beside the others, dark haired and a dark five o'clock shadow like Elkins, _John Winchester._ Now she knew all of their faces, all of their names, the five men who had come to kill her. Rufus nodded and rushed ahead after her; she looked around, the hunters had surrounded her and were approaching her at every side. The witch scrambled up into the limbs of a tree and began to chant quickly in Latin,  
"_I've got a shot!" _John Winchester called,  
"_Take it!"_ Bobby called back and John pulled the trigger; there was a flash of yellowish light as the gunshot rang through the forest and the witch's body fell from the tree, a gaping hole in her neck that spewed crimson onto the forest floor. The witch's watched from above as the hunters congregated around her corpse, "_Seven hells, she was quick."___Bobby commented,  
"_Amen to that,"___Elkins nudged the corpse with his foot,  
"_You sure she's dead?"_ Rufus asked,  
"_Cut her head off and salt and burn the body,"_ John said, looking impatient, "_A week, a whole week it took to find her, Sam and Dean are in a motel out of town, I need to get back."  
"The life's no place for kids," _the Pastor said and John glared at him  
"_What did you expect me to do? Leave them? I can't leave the life, Mary's killer is still out there." _John said and the witch suddenly became worried, a body, she needed a body, before the hunters salted and burnt hers. She scanned the town and found one, an empty body of a newborn, it had just flat lined, and she could see the weeping parents looking down on their child. The witch hurtled towards the hospital building, ethereal and invisible, feeling the feint feeling of oil being poured over her body.  
"_Hurry up!" _Bobby said to Rufus, who was attempting to light a match on a rock, "_Don't want the witch coming back because some idjit can't light a match."  
_Her essence sank into the child, filling the small body and initiating the heart monitor again.  
"_Doctor!" _the father was the first to yell out, as the witch sank into the consciousness and bonded with the body as her new host. "_Someone! DOCTOR!" _two doctors hurtled into the ward,  
"_A miracle,"_ one of them breathed, and the five names rolled around her fading mind, _John Winchester, Robert Singer, Pastor James Murphy, Rufus Turner. _They would all live to regret what they had done, but not today, her mind disintegrated as all of the memories of her live buried themselves in the back of her mind and she fell into the darkness of the sleep of a newborn.


	2. The Vessel of the Fallen

The archangel could feel her vessel burning up, the young fresh face of the girl not so pretty anymore, covered in blisters and burns. She had searched, not even alone but with an entourage of any demons who would help her; it wasn't painful to the angel, but it would be for the girl, but it would be over soon; she had been an angelic vessel, but not Amriel's true vessel. Michael would have realised where she was now, a burning vessel created a stink that any angel could recognise, especially an archangel burning one, the heavenly warriors weren't exactly inconspicuous.  
"Hello Amriel," she didn't need to turn around to see who it was, nevertheless she turned to face her brother, Michael had gone with the precaution of sending another archangel, but neglected to come himself as he should have.  
"Raphael," she smiled cordially, hearing the internal screams of her vessel. "Michael isn't coming, I gather?" Amriel stepped backward, away from Raphael,  
"Our brother is busy keeping heaven in running order, a task that you could have assisted him with." Raphael said and Amriel sighed, rolling her eyes,  
"He banished me eons ago," she continued pacing backwards slowly, making her brother think she was afraid, that he had the upper hand.  
"To Hell," he stated and she shrugged,  
"Lucifer landed in the cage and I didn't, made some friends and they busted me out." An angel's blade appeared in Raphael's hand, "Are you going to kill me, brother?"  
"If I have to," he said, closing in on her, "Your vessel is weak and you will not kill me,"  
"What makes you think that?" she asked, her own blade appearing in her hand,  
"You lack conviction," Raphael said, grimacing, "And although you have defied the will of our father, you still love your family above all, and like it or not, I _am _your brother. You will not kill me, Amriel,"  
"I'd kill Michael," she admitted, it wasn't exactly a lie, she would throw him into the deepest depths of Hell and force him to suffer for the rest of eternity, but she wouldn't kill him. Killing him was too much of a mercy for what he did to Lucifer. "But you're right, I have nothing against you, Raphael, and I don't want to hurt you, so I beg you to leave now. Run back to our brother and give him a kiss from me."  
"You give me no choice, Amriel," Raphael said in that annoyingly monotonous voice of his,  
"You had no choice to begin with," she spat, "You're just a mindless puppet of first our father and now Michael; don't you ever think that sometimes they might be wrong?"  
"God is never wrong," Raphael hissed, "You are a blasphemer and a traitor, and you have brought this death upon yourself."  
Amriel smiled as Raphael stepped over the line of holy oil into the circle and clicked her fingers and a flame spread along the oil. "Little trick I picked up in Hell," she smirked, "It's holy oil so don't bother trying to escape," she walked past him to the door, feeling his venomous gaze upon her all the way,  
"If you leave me here, you will regret it," he said darkly and she turned around,  
"One of our brothers or sisters will rescue you and I will be long gone, tell Michael not to come looking for me again, or I might just pay him a visit and ram this through his eye socket," she said, holding up her blade for emphasis. "Don't you come looking either, Raphael, or you'll be next. I like living and as much as I love my family, you're all dicks and I think I can ignore that little fact if you push me."  
Amriel walked out of the room, closing the door behind her, and vanished with a flap of her wings, appearing at the crossroads, "Crowley?"  
"You look terrible, love," the demon said and she smiled at him,  
"I need a meatsuit," she said, "That one that you found, is it a true vessel?" Crowley grimaced and nodded,  
"I don't like this, you'll forget everything…"  
"And Michael won't find me, you know where the human is, you can follow her until it's time to start the preparations for the apocalypse." Crowley put a hand on her shoulder and they appeared in the ward of a hospital, standing over a pregnant lady, "Don't scream," she said quickly, "I am Amriel, an angel of the Lord," for effect, she made her wings visible to the woman,  
"The baby," Crowley said quietly and Amriel almost cursed, the mother could still say yes to the exchange though.  
"What happened to your face?" the woman asked,  
"My vessel, this human was not strong enough to withstand an angel," she explained, feeling the body close to its end. "I am dying," she lied, "I wish to pass some of my grace onto your child, to give it a good future, but you must say yes."  
"Dying?" the woman asked, _Joanne Hadley_, "How do angels die?"  
"That doesn't matter," Amriel said,  
"Who's he?" Joanne nodded at Crowley, who had his hands in the pockets of his suit,  
"Gabriel, messenger of the Lord," the demon lied and she nodded,  
"And my baby? She'll have a good life, be blessed?"  
"Yes," Amriel said, and Joanne looked from her stomach to Crowley and then finally rested her eyes back on Amriel.  
"Okay…yes, I accept." Amriel touched Joanne's pregnant stomach and transferred herself into the baby.


	3. Crowley on the Defence

The body collapsed back into Crowley's arms, who disappeared with it, the vessel was breathing heavily, not quite dead,  
"_Please,"_ the human whispered and Crowley pulled out a knife, her eyes grew wide and hands started shaking before Crowley drove the blade into her heart, the girl in question he had found after a crossroads deal, so he got her soul anyway, even though Amriel had tricked her into saying yes by promising that her contract would be negated by housing an angel. He had found the baby a few weeks ago, recognising the familiar aura that angelic vessels possessed, he had been slightly wary, the father, a kind man called Art who wrote some quite good horror novels had separated from his wife and Crowley disliked the new boyfriend. A drunken gambler with a history of spousal abuse and affiliation with drugs, he hadn't liked the idea of Amriel growing up with _him_ as her father-figure. Perhaps Crowley would pull a couple of strings and have the child placed in Art's care; it was the least he could do for her.  
Crowley appeared back in the hospital and found himself in the hall between two rooms with delivering mothers inside, Crowley walked into the ward where his friend was being born.  
The baby was red, sticky and disgusting, making its pitiful wailing noise but most definitely a girl,  
"Hello, love," he smirked at the baby who looked directly at him and immediately stopped crying, "I told you this was a bad idea, look at you, you're all pasty and gross."  
Another man walked into the room, and hugged Joanna, this wasn't the boyfriend, it was her brother, Kevin McBride,  
"It's a girl," he said and looked at the baby in her arms, "Two girls, did you and Art have a name?"  
"Aislin," Joanna answered, "What about you and Naomi?"  
"Karin," Kevin said and Joanna smiled; it made Crowley sick, that was his best friend, an idiot if there ever was one,  
"Bloody hell, Amriel," he hissed under his breath, the happy siblings couldn't see him, but he still couldn't hang around forever and this happy families crap was making him physically ill. "Don't do something stupid," he told the baby and walked out of the hospital room. In the ward across the hall, another mother was sobbing hysterically, not out of sorrow, but happiness, talking to a young looking nurse.  
"_I thought I had lost her,"_ she wept and Crowley looked into the room, interested, "The doctors told us to say our goodbyes."  
_More than one miracle here today then,_ Crowley thought, one child brought back from what looked death and a vessel found for a fallen archangel. _And the two girls were cousins._ The other one, Karin, didn't feel human either, or not entirely human anyway, Crowley had no idea what it could possibly be. Something that had crawled into a human body like Amriel had? It was a possibility, he would have to watch this one as well, at least until he was sure that she posed no threat,  
"You can relax now, Mrs McBride, you baby girl is healthy and stable," the nurse responded with a shrill happy sweetness in her voice that made Crowley want to gag, he was a demon, a demon who had just lost the only angel he could actually tolerate and a woman he had called his friend for as long as he could remember. Why should they be happy? He would have to spend years on the outskirts of her life, seeing her grow up as a regular mortal, knowing his luck she would probably become a hunter. At least Crowley would see to it that Aislin didn't have to grow up around that dick of a stepfather; he couldn't give her to the father now at any rate, not if he was going to see the cousins grow up together, but the asshole could get into an _accident_.  
_Speak of the devil,_ Crowley thought as he saw the man walking through the hospital corridors towards his girlfriend's room. Sighing, he reappeared without anyone noticing that a short man in an expensive black suit had just appeared out of thin air, it _was _the maternity ward afterwards, they were just all so excited about their screaming fleshy bags of goo that a little thing like that escaped their attention. Crowley then proceeded to not-so-accidentally run into the asshole boyfriend, Jarred Callaghan if Crowley wasn't mistaken.  
"Hey, watch where you're going," he snarled and Crowley smirked at him, "You think something's funny?"  
"Well, its one o'clock in the afternoon and your breath smells like alcohol and you're in a maternity ward, visiting your wife, girlfriend?"  
"Girlfriend, she's having her douchebag ex-husband's baby," Jarred said and Crowley sighed,  
"Okay, I am really not having a good day, so I'll make this brief, you are going to go into that room and leave your girlfriend and never see her or that child ever again," he said and Jarred clenched his fist,  
"Oh, am I?" he asked threateningly, "You got a thing for my girl?"  
"No, I simply care about the child," Crowley explained, "Go, have your women, drugs and alcohol, but don't you dare stay in that child's life."  
"Why? Why do you care?" Jarred asked, pulling off his sunglasses to take a better look at Crowley, "What do you care if I'm a crappy father?"  
"Let's just say I owe it to a very special lady that I happen to care about quite a bit," Crowley said, raising his voice to the point where people were beginning to notice them, "You don't want a kid, so why bother for Joanna? If you really loved her you would have been here for her and not drunk at one o'clock in the frigging afternoon, she isn't that remarkable looks wise, so just go, or you might just get yourself very hurt." Crowley's eyes flashed red to emphasise his point and Jarred jumped backward,  
"Freak," he hissed, "Fine, have what you want, I don't care."  
Jarred spun around and disappeared around the corner and a small sense of pride filled Crowley, _I could always step in,_ he thought, _Joanna is single and it would let me watch over Amriel's new vessel._ Somehow, Crowley thought that Joanna might not appreciate being chatted up minutes after having a baby and it wasn't as if he wasn't busy. A crossroads demon's job never ended, if he were to explore the father's route, he would be a woefully absent one. Suddenly Crowley saw Art Hadley jogging briskly up the hallway and he intercepted that man as well,  
"Just hear me out, the women in there is the love of your life and the mother of your child, you don't want to leave her, you want to stay and be a father," Art gawped at him and made a move to speak, "Don't talk, get in there, it's a girl, her name is Aislin,"  
With that, Crowley walked away, disappearing as soon as he rounded the corner, _What do I do now? _Amriel was gone but at least Aislin would have a mother and father who loved her.She would remember him sooner or later, _hopefully._


	4. Seeing A World Enchanted

Karin stared with wide-eyed wonder at the small person fluttering around the playground, she was far too young to ever imagine that she might be hallucinating, and daddy had read her stories about the fairies, so she naturally assumed that the small glowing creature with wings was a fairy and more importantly, never doubted that it was most certainly real. Daddy had also told her that fairies were good, granting wishes and being nice to little children, so Karin skipped toward the glowing creature.  
"Hello," the fairy whirled around in surprise, a stunned look painted across his face,  
"You…you can see me?" it asked and she nodded, "But, you're human, humans aren't supposed to be able to see our kind." The thing sighed and studied the small girl, it was a human, but a human child, even if it did see him, no one would believe her. "What's your name, little girl,"  
"Karin," she squealed with delight, "I'm six. Are you a real fairy?"  
"Yes," he answered, "I live in Neverland with Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle," the little girl was grinning so widely, it may have well been Christmas morning.  
"Can you be my friend?" she asked and the fairy sighed, this was what happened all the time before they started conducting their business invisible, human children were smitten with fairies, it was annoying to say the least,  
"I'm very busy Karin, we all are," the excuse was feeble to any other six year-old, but she nodded with an understanding beyond her years,  
"That's okay, what's your name?" the child asked and the fairy sat down on the low branch of the sapling he had been hovering around,  
"Fern," he replied and she giggled with excitement, "Just like the plant," Fern explained,  
"Can I touch your wings, they're so pretty?" she asked and he sighed and stretched out his wing and she stroked it gently, "Are there girl fairies?" she asked and he nodded,  
"Lots of them," he answered and looked over at the other children, "You should go back and play with your friends, I've got to go back home and see the fairy King."  
"Oberon," the small child nodded and he flew into the air and waved at her. Karin waved back, "Bye, Fern." The fairy flew off into the clouds and Karin watched it go, only slightly disappointed that he couldn't stay or better yet, take her with him. _Fern will come back_, she decided and skipped back to the group of children, playing in the sandpit, _Daddy will never believe what I did today._ The thought made her giggle, she was glad that Fern was a nice fairy; daddy had read her stories where there were evil fairies like Rumplestiltskin who took away small children. _Aislin will believe me about Fern_, her cousin had always believed her stories, even the silly ones about the moon being made of cheese and that she had seen a unicorn. The bell rang and one of the teachers came out to collect the children, Miss Jane bent down and smiled at her,  
"What did you do in playtime, Karin?" the lady asked and Karin smiled back,  
"I met a nice fairy called Fern," she answered honestly, "He had to go back to see the fairy King, Oberon,"  
"Did he have wings?" Miss Jane asked and she nodded excitedly,  
"They were really pretty, and green and he glowed as well, like a firefly," Karin hurried to her seat, they were drawing now and she wanted to make a picture of Fern. She grabbed some pencils and drew herself talking to the fairy and the little tree he had been sitting in.  
"That's really great!" Miss Jane complimented and bent down to look at it more closely, "Is this your fairy friend?"  
"Fern," she corrected, colouring the sky blue and drawing a yellow sun in the corner of the page. "He lives in Neverland, with Peter Pan and Tinkerbelle, he said so."  
Jane wasn't too worried about Karin's fairy story, the children always came out with these kind of things, another boy was telling Rachel about how he had seen some dinosaurs on the weekend and one little girl was obsessed with princesses. Karin had a good healthy imagination.  
"Did you see her in play time?" Rachel asked her and Jane shook her head, "She was over, talking to a tree,"  
"A fairy, she says she made friends with a fairy called Fern who lives in Neverland." Jane explained and Rachel laughed,  
"The stuff these kids come up with, Jaime's been going on about dinosaurs again," Rachel said,  
"Again? Last week it was astronauts," Jane chuckled, and watched Karin walk over, holding her drawing,  
"I finished it," she explained and held it out, Jane took it and showed Rachel,  
"This is Karin with her fairy friend, Fern," she said, pointing to the characters in the drawing, "It's really good honey."  
Karin smiled and wandered away to start playing with the blocks, and Jane put the picture on the pile of other drawings, labelling it with her name. It was strange that Karin seemed to be obsessed with fairies now; there had been other people around town, swearing that they had seen something like she had described. _Fairies aren't real_, Jane told herself; _that would be just ridiculous. _


	5. This Little Soul Of Mine

Aislin rode her bike along the winding dirt road, her mum had been a little apprehensive about letting her go out alone, but dad had argued for her, she was ten now and could go for a ride on her bike on her own. She was going to her favourite place, a little windmill at some crossroads on the outskirts of town, she loved reading there, it was so quiet, and there was a friendly cat that lived there who she brought food to sometimes. She had named the sleek black animal Hamlet, they were reading it at school and he was her favourite character in the play. Her backpack was stocked with a the book she was reading and some tins of cat food, a couple of pieces of bacon she had saved from breakfast and some cat treats that she had bought with her pocket money. Dad was allergic to cats so she couldn't bring the little stray home, but she had made a little bed for Hamlet in the run down windmill out of an old blanket and a box she had found in the garage. As she approached the crossroads, she heard voices and decided to walk the rest of the way, to see who was there. Mum had warned her about strangers, and told her to avoid anyone she saw around this area. She crouched in the long grass, behind a tree and peered out at the crossroads. A young woman and a man stood there; she looked scared, and Aislin strained to listen to the conversation,  
"_Is this what you want? A cure for your father's cancer?" _the man asked and the woman nodded, "_So be it, a kiss to seal the deal."_ The man leant in and kissed her, like Aislin had seen in the movies and among the older kids at her school who were going out. The girl pulled back quickly and he chuckled, "_The deal is done, go back to the hospital, you'll find your father cured. Oh, and I'll see you in ten years."_ A kiss to cure her dad's cancer? Aislin had never heard of anything like that before, the woman got into her car and drove away without even saying goodbye to the man who had apparently cured her dad. "You can come out now, Aislin," her heart thudded with fear and she pulled back and wondered whether running would do her any good, she was one of the fastest runners in her grade, but he was an adult. "I know you're up there, I won't hurt you, I promise." Aislin found herself suddenly believing everything he said and walked around the tree into his line of sight. "There you are, come down here so we can talk." Aislin reluctantly walked down the hill, to the crossroads, "How much did you hear?" he asked and she looked at the ground.  
"How did you cure her dad's cancer by kissing her?" she asked, he knew she had been listening, so why pretend otherwise? He chuckled and put his hands in his pockets.  
"I'm a demon," he said and she frowned,  
"Demons aren't real," she said and yelped when his eyes flashed crimson.  
"We're very real." He smirked and Aislin started to back away, "I did promise not to hurt you," he reminded her. "The name's Crowley; and to answer your question, I'm a crossroads demon, I grant wishes if you like."  
"Anything?" she asked, not quite sure if she believed he was real or not yet, "You can give them anything at all?"  
"I can kill someone, bring them back to life, make them fall in love, money, power, talent, I can give it all." Crowley smirked again, "Care to make a deal, Aislin?"  
"Do I have to kiss you?" she asked and Crowley shrugged,  
"It's traditional and initiates the deal,"  
"That's gross," she said and Crowley chuckled, "Do you live in Hell?"  
"Nah, nasty place, never did get used to the whole fire and brimstone thing," Aislin smiled, and looked at the windmill, "Or I could cure your darling daddy of those allergies so you can bring your little friend home."  
"You'd do that?" she asked, wary, her mother was Christian enough to have warned her in passing about demons, but Crowley seemed nice enough,  
"For a price, of course," Crowley explained, "I do something for you, and in ten years, I get your soul."  
"If you get my soul in ten years, does that mean I die?" she asked and he shrugged,  
"Maybe, maybe not, I do have need of, shall we say, an accomplice, a human that hunters will trust." Crowley said, and Aislin frowned,  
"What are hunters?" she asked and he chuckled,  
"Sometimes I forget how little you know," he smirked and rubbed his hands together, "I'll tell you everything you need to know, in time. But you get your friend," he gestured to the windmill, "And in return, you belong to me."  
"I thought that only happened in ten years," she said and he grinned darkly,  
"Come now, I'm doing you a favour here, someday I might even take you to hell, show you around and let you see what you're missing out on." Aislin wrapped her arms around herself, and Crowley stepped closer to her, "Cold?" Aislin nodded and the demon snapped his fingers and the two of them appeared inside a large expensive looking home. Crowley walked to a bar and poured himself a glass of scotch, "Craig," he explained, holding up the bottle, "Don't suppose you want some?"  
"I'm ten," she reminded him and he scoffed,  
"And how old do I look?" he asked, taking a sip of the liquor,  
"Thirty, or so," she answered and he snickered,  
"Three hundred years, give or take," Crowley corrected and Aislin gawped at him, "Age is just a number, love, you'll learn that soon enough." He put a glass of Craig in her hand, "Take a sip and try not to gag," Aislin did as he asked and was soon bent double, scratching at her burning throat, "Takes some getting used to, but, then again, I didn't bring you here to throw up my expensive scotch on my equally expensive rugs; so here's the deal," he said as she collapsed into one of the chairs, "I give you kitty and in return you be my little double-agent, you go where I send you and make nice with the people I tell you to; I will protect you, the other demons will know you belong to me, I can't say the same for the monsters, but you'll learn how to fend for yourself."  
Aislin gasped, the searing pain in her throat subsiding, "Okay, yeah, I'll do it,"  
"Wonderful," Crowley smiled and Aislin cringed slightly as he leant in for the kiss that would initiate their deal. 


	6. Walking Nightmares

Karin tossed and turned in her bed, the names whispering through her head, _John Winchester, Robert Singer, Rufus Turner, James Murphy, and Daniel Elkins_. Then there were the nightmares, five men who looked like game hunters carrying shotguns, she didn't know what scared her so much, her own father shot deer with Aislin's dad when it was hunting season. But these men haunted her nightmares almost every night for two weeks now, and as if that wasn't enough to keep her awake, that damned cat Aislin had brought home four years ago had scratched up her arms when she tried to pick it up. Karin rolled out of bed and walked downstairs, she hadn't bothered changing out of her clothes; the nightmares had affected her for too long for her to think she would get a good night's sleep. Aislin wouldn't be awake, her cousin had slept like a rock ever since that beast of hers had come into the picture; suddenly a shrill scream ripped through the night air and Karin, without thinking rushed after the source of the noise,  
"Dad, dead ahead_!" _came the shout of a young man, then his father hurried into view and held up a shotgun and fired into the alley,  
"Where's your gun, Dean?" the older man asked, turning around to look at his son, Karin gasped quietly, it was one of the men from her nightmares, the one called John Winchester and the boy, that must be the son he had referred to after killing the girl they had been after. Karin hadn't thought the guy would actually be real, in her dream they had been hunting a witch of all things, Karin had enough sense to know that the actual spell-casting witches didn't exist, she knew about Wiccans, but they weren't exactly the same thing.  
"The ghoul kicked it down a drain," Dean said and John sighed at his son,  
"Be more careful, go put it in the trunk, we'll dispose of it properly later," John said and she almost gasped, she only knew about ghouls by what Aislin had told her; her cousin had been obsessed by all that supernatural stuff recently, talking about demons and ghosts and other creatures, Wendigos, Rougarous, Werewolves and vampires; and of course she had mentioned the ghouls, _what if they hurt someone, thinking that they were a ghoul?_ It was possible that this was some kind of cult that Aislin had come across on the internet. But she couldn't shake the foreboding feeling when she thought of the name John Winchester, for some reason she just knew that he was dangerous.  
_Maybe Aislin knows about this guy,_ it wasn't too great an assumption, Karin had seen her talk with an older guy in a black suit and coat outside the school gates before the two of them walked home together, and she'd been getting weird emails from people that Karin had never heard of before.  
Karin crept back and threw a rock at her cousin's window, _she better be in_, it wouldn't be the first time that Aislin had snuck out; Karin always kept her secrets though, their parents were both really strict and she would probably be grounded forever if they found out about it. Her mum and dad had gotten a divorce and her dad had moved out of state to New York for a job as a journalist for a big newspaper. Her new stepdad wasn't bad in Karin's opinion, a pastor at the local church, but for some reason, Aislin disliked him; Karin hadn't really blamed her for not liking the guy, he wasn't her dad and was having his own kid with her mother.  
Surely enough, Aislin opened her window and stuck her head out,  
"Karin?" she called quietly, a flicker of surprise colouring her voice,  
"Is the back door unlocked?" Karin asked and her cousin nodded, retreating into her bedroom and closing the window. She hurried around her cousin's house and entered through the back door and tiptoed up the stars where she found Aislin waiting for her on the first landing.  
"What's this about?" he cousin asked, her blue eyes flashing in the dim light,  
"You know those nightmares I've been having?" Karin asked and Aislin nodded, "Well I saw a guy from my dream; John Winchester, he was with his son Dean and they were talking about disposing of a dead ghoul."  
"You sure you weren't dreaming?" Aislin asked, laying on her bed and Karin shook her head,  
"It was him, and they were both real, I swear." Aislin nodded slowly, "I'm not crazy,"  
"I don't think you are." Her cousin said, "I don't think you should worry about it, I mean, if he killed a ghoul, he's one of the good guys, right?"  
"Yeah, I guess so," Karin muttered, not entirely convinced, "I just wish I knew who they were, I know their names; John Winchester, Robert Singer, Pastor James Murphy, Rufus Turner and Daniel Elkins. If one of them are real, then doesn't that mean the rest of them are too?" Aislin shrugged,  
"I read that sometimes if you're not sleeping much, you start to see things that aren't real," Aislin said slowly and calmly, "Maybe you were just worrying about the nightmares again and you thought you saw this John guy because you think the nightmare means something."  
"What should I do? Am I crazy?" Karin asked and her cousin put a hand on her shoulder,  
"Just go to sleep, and I don't think you're crazy," she still wasn't quite sure, but she did trust Aislin, and even if there was some hunting guy called John Winchester out there, it would be a hell of a coincidence for her to happen to run into him.  
"Okay, thanks," she mumbled half-heartedly and Aislin walked her down the stairs to the back door, "See you at school tomorrow."  
Aislin mumbled a goodbye and closed the door as Karin hopped across the cold pavement to her own home. _Well, at least she doesn't think I'm crazy_, Karin had no reason to ever suspect that her cousin might be lying, they were closer than cousins usually were, like a mixture of siblings and best friends. Karin walked into her house and after hurtling noiselessly up the carpeted stairs, she flopped into bed and closed her eyes,_ Aislin's right, Aislin's always right, maybe I was just imagining them._


End file.
